This weekend was BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

And we're on to baby food! Sutton has been one hungry hippo lately, nursing for very long periods of time, eating more and more cereal more and more often and is STILL hungry. Last week, our pedi, Dr Jones, suggested to start him on fruits when he hits 20 weeks. Meh, what's a week and a half? Especially since Sutton hasn't been sleeping more than about 4-5 hours at a time without wanting to nurse or take a bottle. We have been VERY sleepy parents for about two weeks!
Sutton got his first taste of baby food ('naners! YUM!) on Saturday afternoon. From what I've heard and seen, most babys have SOME kind of reaction to trying 'real' food for the first time. Shock. Disgust. Excitement. SOMETHING. Sutton? Nothing. No reaction. You wouldn't even know we were feeding him anything different! I mean, he liked it, I guess, since he didn't spit it out or make an awful face, but he didn't go crazy over it either. Just ate. And ate. And then ate some more.

Blank face on his first bite!

What do you mean I've never had this food before?

So now, we're nursing/taking a bottle 5-6 times a day, eating cereal twice a day and bananas twice a day. We can only introduce one new fruit a week, I'm assuming to make sure he handles it ok or maybe to make sure there aren't any allergic reactions. Next week, I think we're going to try pears.
Saturday, we had some people over to hang out, bbq and watch the Tech game. Kolby and Marli hadn't seen Sutton in  a while and were so suprised how big he was! My very good friend, Kaela, came over as well for some snuggles.
Sutton is still chewing on everything and slobbering everywhere. No teeth have made an appearance, but we check daily to see when those pearly white chompers will show up!

Chewing on his exersaucer toys.

I can't get over how much Sutton is growing up. He constantly amazes us with new things. It seems like every weekend, I discover something new about him. I know that makes it sound like I only see him on the weekends, but it's the only time we can spend all day, every day together and I notice all his new tricks! This weekend, I noticed three big things:

1. Sutton will now reach his arms out to you when he wants to be picked up. It's an amazing thing to have a child reach for you for comfort. When you've tried every toy and gadget you have and the only thing that will soothe them is your arms, you know love.
2. He is picking up on things that indicate it's time to eat. I'm trying to use the same words for different types of food so he will make the association. Nummies for nursing, bottle for bottle feeding, cereal for cereal. He understands 'hungry' and knows he's about to eat when we put his bib on him. While he's eating , he actually will grab the hand that's holding his spoon and direct it towards his mouth! That blows my mind! And you can't feed him fast enough. Meal times go something like this: Put bib on Sutton, "SQUEAL!" pop a bite in his mouth, swallow. Then he'll scream because there isn't more food in his mouth so we'll use that opportunity to shove another bite in, swallow. You get the picture!
3. He likes to make out. If you put your face close to his, he'll grab your head on either side of your face and pull you towards him so he can slobber all over you. I think they're pretty sweet kisses. Love them!

We have a wedding coming up in two weeks that Rusty and I are both in the wedding party. We'll be traveling to Granbury to see two very close friends of ours tie the knot and recite their vows in front of God, family and friends. Sutton will be there for part of the celebration, but will spend most of the time with Rusty's mom. We're so excited to take him on yet another roadtrip!
         

Labor Day Weekend and 4 mo checkup

Whew! What a busy past few days it's been! We've been half-way across Texas and back, to the Dr's office in a hurricane and let me tell you, I'll take the 5 hour trip and back over driving in nasty weather anytime!
Saturday morning we loaded up the truck with huntin' gear, game trail cameras, baby stuff, our little family and my dad and headed to Arden, TX, just outside of San Angelo.
The property we stayed on belongs to the Thorp family, some good friends of Rusty's family. We stayed in an amazingly historical ranch house. It was beautiful, with the original screened porch that was perfect for catching the breeze. Here are some pics of the house from this weekend (screened in porch on the right side) and of the original house, built in 1907.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2006/dec/24/range-land-management-saved-historic-ranch/

While we were there, we did some dove hunting and lots of scouting for the upcoming deer season. Yummy food, great family times and, TECH FOOTBALL! This weekend kicked off the Tech football season and marked a HUGE milestone in Sutton's life: FIRST TECH GAME! He rocked his little Tech onesie and was simply CAPTIVATED by the game on TV.

Best seat in the house!

Get your guns up!

Marking the occasion with a family photo.

Monday afternoon, we headed back home and back to the real world. Turns out, the real world was preparing for Tropical Storm Hermine! We've had more rain in the last two days than we've had in September in the last 30 years! That's a whole lotta wet!

Since we thought it was just going to be rain, I went ahead and headed to the Dr on Tuesday morning to take Sutton in for his 4 month check up. This kid. He's chubby. I don't know where he gets it! He's now weighing in at 16 lbs, 6 oz and is 26 inches long. Everything is great, growing as he should, development and motor skills exactly where they should be and most exciting of all (at least for Sutton): we get start fruits as soon as he hits the 20 week mark! Pears and bananas and applesauce, oh, my! Can't wait to see what those are going to smell like. I've started letting him hold a spoon when feeding him cereal. Hopefully, he'll make the association. He picks up on things so quickly! It blows my mind that he starts opening his mouth like a little guppy as soon as he hears the word 'cereal' and we put his bib on! How does he already know that?

Sutton is now laughing like CRAZY at so many different things. He loves when you bark like a puppy at him. He loves to be held up over your head and when you bend him over backwards like you're going to 'drop' him. He is also VERY ticklish, just like his Mommy! He cracks up when you nuzzle his neck or tickle his toes. Just this morning, I started squeezing his upper thigh and he laughed so hard he almost choked! (Maybe no more tickles while nursing...) Tuesday night, he was just staring at Rusty and would just start to chuckle every time Rusty would look at him. We all three of us were laughing hysterically! He loves to grab his feet and anything else you put near him (including long hair, hence my recent loss of locks!) and still will just squeal for minutes while playing. Some of his favorite songs are Frere Jacques, Old McDonald and, still, You Are My Sunshine.

In all, we're just bouncing along; work, play, sleep, eat, poop. That's our life!